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archionblu
September 18th, 2010, 12:59 PM
I only recently joined LHC, and since then I've started doing CWC washes with SLS and cone-free shampoo/condish (every other day, I tried doing longer stretches for a while and my hair didn't like it) and oiling with wither EVOO or Coconut oil twice a week, and my hair is wonderfully soft! I love it, I have trouble keeping my hands off of it. ;)

BUT there is one major problem. Since I've started this routine, I've been shedding much more than usual, and my hair is very prone to breakage. Like, running my wide-tooth wooden comb through detangled hair very, very slowly and gently, I hear the popping noise several times! It's driving me nuts, and the breakage is starting to show as little stubblies sticking out all over my head.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be? Should I go back to cones? When I chem dyed my hair years ago, my hair LOVED Pantene, but I've heard it called such bad names by longhairs and am generally afraid to try going back to cones...eep. help???

SilvraShadows
September 18th, 2010, 01:09 PM
Only you can find what will work for your hair type. If this new routine isn't helping, why continue? There are a lot of folks here that use cones and have a bounty of beautiful hair. My hair likes cones, but I won't use a coney product too long, because my strands tend to get dry and frayed looking... and feeling. It's a balance act sometimes.

Use what works for you. Keep your hair supple and moisturized from the source that works for your hair type.

little_cherry
September 18th, 2010, 01:11 PM
Do those little 'stubblies' have a fine tapered point to them, or a bluntish point? Tapered points mean that these are baby hairs.

How much do you say you'd shed? Normally we shed around 200 hairs a day.

Do you gently wash your scalp only when you CWC? Do you put conditioner on your scalp?

Also, another thing in regards to your brushing technique...most people here starts at the bottom of their hair; combing out the bottom section down, and slowly moving up the length of the hair combing down. It is best to wok out the knots very slowly so you don't get the 'ping' of hair breakage. Hair breakage can lead to splits and other problems.

Roseate
September 18th, 2010, 01:31 PM
Do you do daily light oilings at all, or are you just doing pre-wash oiling? Putting just a tiny bit of oil on your palms and stroking them through your dry hair can provide a little coating and slip that might help with your combing/breakage issue.

The shedding, though, if that started right at the time you changed your products, you might want to go back to what you were using before to see if that helps. You can do CWC just as well with SLS/coney products if that is what your hair prefers. Some scalps need SLS to keep down fungal infections or other issues.

archionblu
September 18th, 2010, 01:47 PM
Do those little 'stubblies' have a fine tapered point to them, or a bluntish point? Tapered points mean that these are baby hairs.

How much do you say you'd shed? Normally we shed around 200 hairs a day.

Do you gently wash your scalp only when you CWC? Do you put conditioner on your scalp?

Also, another thing in regards to your brushing technique...most people here starts at the bottom of their hair; combing out the bottom section down, and slowly moving up the length of the hair combing down. It is best to wok out the knots very slowly so you don't get the 'ping' of hair breakage. Hair breakage can lead to splits and other problems.
They're blunt points, not tapered, unfortunately, and I am adding a little oil daily, my hair is very slippery and fine as it is (I actually recently asked question about how to deal with braiding really slippery hair). I don't have a lot of breakage when I comb gently through super-heavy-oiled hair, but I don't want to wear my hair like that all the time, it's not the most becoming ^^;; I have no idea how much I shed, I only know that I never saw this much of my hair everywhere before...maybe I just didn't notice before I started paying more attention to my hair in general?

for washing, I put condish on my length ears down and work it through, then gently massage shampoo only into my scalp with the pads of my fingers. I then rinse, and reapply condish and let it sit there while I wash the rest of me/shave/etc. and then rinse out.

I also have been starting at the bottom of my hair and working up, until I can pull the comb all the way through without hitting any tangles, but even when it's completely detangled, my hair will break--not because it's hitting a knot or anything, it just breaks. I considered that my comb might be the culprit, even though it's fairly wide-tooth (well, relative to my very fine hair) and seamless, but I didn't have the problem of breakage before when I was using it. It's almost as if my hair is less strong now, or something. I still haven't been able to find splits, which you would think I'd have, considering the breakage...

Thanks for your suggestions though :) I hope that clarifies my situation.

Elenna
September 18th, 2010, 01:58 PM
Archionblu you might want to look at the thread "Connection between no shampoo and scalp problems and shedding?" This thread really is about shampoos, other forms of cleansing the hair and combining different cleansing methods.

I find Ktani to be an excellent researcher and all-around knowledgable about hair problems.

archionblu
September 18th, 2010, 02:20 PM
Archionblu you might want to look at the thread "Connection between no shampoo and scalp problems and shedding?" This thread really is about shampoos, other forms of cleansing the hair and combining different cleansing methods.

I find Ktani to be an excellent researcher and all-around knowledgable about hair problems.
Thanks! I'll definitely check out that thread. :)

SilvraShadows
September 18th, 2010, 02:51 PM
... It's almost as if my hair is less strong now, or something. I still haven't been able to find splits, which you would think I'd have, considering the breakage...


It sounds as if you are doing everything correctly when you wash your hair and combing it gently.

When you mentioned the strength of your hair, I was wondering if you take supplements. We need to take care of ourselves from the inside out as well. I too have ultra fine, baby breath tresses and over this last decade I noticed something directly related to supplements. As you know all this takes time... and what we do today is revealed tomorrow.

I went from faithfully taking supplements like biotin, spring horsetail silica, a multi for hair~skin~nails, and flaxseed oil. At one point I was taking msm. My hair was growing in stronger unbeknownst to me, it took a couple of years to see that. Mine grows slowly, 1/2 inch a month. Then I stopped for about three years, and my hair became far more delicate over time. I am trying to remember to take my vitas... my shedding is decreasing, gratefully, but it will take time to see the results again.

Every post up above is offering such good advice! And I agree... ktani is very knowledgable, she can help!

Anje
September 18th, 2010, 03:34 PM
Well, you said that you're combing very slowly and gently... That's good. One of my major breakage culprits is simply pulling combs and brushes through the hair too quickly, so that hairs break before I'm able to stop moving the comb.

I'd like to rule out the protein/moisture balance thing:

How does your hair feel, particularly at the ends? Is it smooth, or a bit rough? Are the ends at all crinkled up, hook-shaped, or curlier near the end of the (cut, not tapered in this case) hair than the rest of the length? If you try to stretch a hair, does it just break rather than stretching for a while? For me, those are the sort of conditions that cause my hair to break more than normally, and I find they're associated with my hair being dried out (due to too much protein, silicone/sulfate experimentation, whatever). I don't think the above really goes with the super-softness you're describing, but because my hair breaks easily when it's like that, I thought I'd throw it out.

Alternatively, does your hair seem to stretch a lot, then break easily? Is it at all mushy or gummy when wet? That would indicate that you need some more protein in your routine.

After eliminating some of those things, if you're still having trouble, you might want to try first keeping conditioner off your scalp, which might reduce shedding. Secondly, you can always go back to silicones. The added smoothness might be just what you need to have hairs untangle rather than break. If your hair likes it, there's no reason why you should have to avoid silicones.

Crazycatlady
September 18th, 2010, 03:34 PM
It sounds as if you are doing everything correctly when you wash your hair and combing it gently.

When you mentioned the strength of your hair, I was wondering if you take supplements. We need to take care of ourselves from the inside out as well. I too have ultra fine, baby breath tresses and over this last decade I noticed something directly related to supplements. As you know all this takes time... and what we do today is revealed tomorrow.

I went from faithfully taking supplements like biotin, spring horsetail silica, a multi for hair~skin~nails, and flaxseed oil. At one point I was taking msm. My hair was growing in stronger unbeknownst to me, it took a couple of years to see that. Mine grows slowly, 1/2 inch a month. Then I stopped for about three years, and my hair became far more delicate over time. I am trying to remember to take my vitas... my shedding is decreasing, gratefully, but it will take time to see the results again.

Every post up above is offering such good advice! And I agree... ktani is very knowledgable, she can help!
Thanks for this reminder about the importance of supplements. :) I take a multi each day and alternate biotin & a hair, skin & nails supplement. I just ran out of those and I really need to pick up some tomorrow. I have one year of growth now from a pixie and I can really tell that they have helped my fine hair to be thicker. And hopefully stronger too, but for some reason I tend to see my hair as weak because it's so fine, but maybe I'm wrong. I really do baby it since joining LHC.

Elenna
September 18th, 2010, 07:17 PM
With fine hair, you may have a moisture problem. Maybe you could try Snowy's Moisture Treatment (SMT). The recipe is oil mixed with two humectants (honey, aloe vera).

Oils have all sorts of different properties and it does depend on when you apply the oil(s), amount of oil(s), and which oil(s). Coconut oil is a favorite around here.

spidermom
September 18th, 2010, 07:22 PM
If you're oiling your scalp, you could be smothering the hair follicles, which would result in shedding. I read about that somewhere. I keep oil away from my scalp as it produces plenty of sebum on its own.

If I were you, I'd go back to the last routine that seemed to work.